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  • FILM REVIEW | A Funny Kind Of Love

    ★★★ | A Funny Kind Of Love

    You could be forgiven for thinking from the opening scenes of this new comedy from Australian actor turned director Josh Lawson that you are about to watch a movie that is like a Wikipedia of sexual practices, or even some soft-core pornography.

    Thankfully it is neither of those although Mr Lawson does want us to laugh at the absurdity of fulfilling sexual fantasies, which never ever turn out like you had dreamed and wished for.

    These then are the totally separate stories of five couples and the tenuous link to them is the fact that they all live in the same suburb neighbourhood, and they are all white and middle-class. The first concerns Maeve who confides to Paul her live-in boyfriend that she has a rape fantasy, which he is as reluctant to comply with as he is with proposing marriage. Evie and Dan’s marriage has hit a rocky patchy so the counsellor they consult suggest role-playing to spice things up a bit. The trouble is that Dan gets so into it he quickly forgets why the started doing this as he is now completely obsessed with becoming an actor so he can play dress-up every day.

    Richard and Rowena have been trying to have a baby for so long that sex has become a monotonous chore, for Rowena anyway. That is until her husband gets really bad news and bursts into tears and she suddenly discovers she has dacryphilia (that thankfully is explained on screen). It means that she gets sexually aroused at the sight of tears, which is harmless enough until she finds has to plot to constantly keep Richard sad enough to weep whenever she fancies getting laid. It is an odd condition, but not quite as potentially objectionable as the somnophilia that Paul has when he drugs his nagging wife Maureen so that when she is passed out, he can finally have sex with her.

    The fifth and final … and by far the best scenario, is of a couple of strangers who have not met in person. Monica works as a signing translator for deaf people wanting to make phone calls, and one night Sam calls into use the service. He wants to be connected to a sex line and poor Monica has to be the conduit for the funny and bawdy language that passes between the ‘working girl’ and Sam a cute young graphic novelist. Despite its set up it has the most tenderness of all of the scenarios because of the very real chemistry between both the caller and the operator, and it is such a genuine connection.

    There is one other tenuous link between this group of vignettes in the shape of a new neighbour who is going around introducing himself. Whilst handing over welcoming gifts he slips into the conversation that fact that he is a registered sex offender, but every household he calls on is so wrapped up in their own problems that the last part simply doesn’t sink in. Just when you think he may get back to his old ways, Lawson finishes him off. We had expected something fatal to happen because of the original title of the movie had been The Little Death and he is one of the ‘little deaths’.

    The movie ends up being more bizarre than bawdy although it does heavily on the basic assumption that many people who find sex funny will find this movie comical too. The troubles are that the laughs are rather intermittent and some regarding the whole concept of non-consensual intercourse are bordering on being offensive and in extremely bad taste.

    As well as giving himself a plum part (Paul) Lawson does pepper the piece with an extremely talented cast of well-known Australian actors. Particular mention to the pitch performances from TJ Power and newcomer Erin James as Sam and Monica. By placing their story last in the proceedings it did at least mean the movie ends on a much higher note than the one it started on.

  • GAY HISTORY: Unsung Gay Heroes In History

    We look back into history and highlight other unsung gay men who have made an incredible different to our lives.

    Alan Turing (1912–1954)

    Alan Turing was a British pioneering computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and mathematical biologist. During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Britain’s code-breaking centre. For a time he led Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis and created the Turing Machine which decrypted the “unbreakable” German Enigma code. Turing’s pivotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic. It is said by some historians that Turing’s work at Bletchley Park shortened the war by two to four years and saved approximately fourteen million to twelve million lives. Nevertheless, Turing led a sheltered and castigated life due to his homosexuality. Whilst he was briefly engaged to fellow Bletchley Park worker Joan Clarke, it was a purely plutonic relationship and they soon divorced. Turing was prosecuted by the police in 1952 for homosexual acts, when such behaviour was still criminalised in the UK. He accepted treatment with oestrogen injections (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison and became incredibly depressed. He committed suicide in 1954. Turing’s wartime heroics were not celebrated until he received an official pardon from Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2009 following an internet campaign, and then a further royal pardon from Queen Elizabeth II in 2013. From 9th March, 2015, the biopic of Alan Turing’s life and heroics, THE IMITATION GAME, will become available on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of StudioCanal.

    Bayard Rustin (1912-1987)

    Bayard Rustin was the brain behind Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement in 1960s America. Rustin was one of the driving forces behind the Congress for Racial Equality and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Most significantly, Rustin organized the 1963 March on Washington — where King gave his legendary “I have a dream” speech. However, due to his homosexuality and his membership in the Communist Party, he has often received short shrift from historians and his integral role in the civil rights movement is often overlooked. At the time, Rustin selflessly avoided the limelight because he knew that elected officials and politicians would attempt to discredit the civil rights movement by pointing out his sexual and political leanings. Rustin was also heavily involved in the anti­–Vietnam War and gay rights movements before his death in 1987.

    Sergei Diaghilev (1872-1929)

    Sergei “Serge” Diaghilev was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, but also one of the first outspoken and unapologetically gay men of the early 20th century. Sergei Diaghilev reshaped that epoch’s ideas about art and performance, and was a pioneer in adapting new musical styles to modern ballet. He created the Ballets Russes mainly as a showcase for his lover and protégé Vaslav Nijinsky, who is still considered one of the greatest dancers who ever lived. Diaghilev had exquisite tastes, bringing the work of such artists as Balanchine, Picasso, Pavlova and Cocteau onto the stage in his cutting-edge productions, which were often unabashedly erotic. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Diaghilev was condemned as an especially insidious example of bourgeois decadence and his contribution to Russian art was written out of history by the Soviets for more than sixty years.

    Larry Kramer (1935-present)

    Every movement needs a voice of anger and righteousness, and when the AIDS pandemic hit, the gay community was lucky to have Larry Kramer, whose editorials and plays (particularly The Normal Heart) demanded that the government take action and that gay men take responsibility for their health. A fascinating author and a rabble-rouser in the best sense, Kramer continues to be a vital and often infuriating presence. Kramer co-founded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), which has become the world’s largest private organization to raise funds for and provide services to people stricken with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

    Harvey Milk (1930–1978)

    Harvey Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisor.

    Milk moved from New York City to settle in San Francisco in 1972 amid a migration of gay men to the Castro District. He ran unsuccessfully for political office three times. Nevertheless, his theatrical campaigns earned him increasing popularity, and Milk won a seat as a city supervisor in 1977. Milk served almost 11 months in office and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back. Despite his short career in politics, Milk became an icon in San Francisco and a martyr in the gay community. In 2008 a Hollywood biopic Milk, starring Sean Penn, honoured Harvey Milk’s transformation of San Fransisco into a mecca for LGBT Americans and in 2009 Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

    The Imitation Game is out on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download platforms now , courtesy of StudioCanal

  • RESTAURANT REVIEW | Darwin Brasserie, The Sky Garden

    Dining up at the Sky Garden sounds exciting doesn’t it? A little novel? Darwin’s menu boasts being “inspired by the very best of British”, but in reality means they have no imagination, catering for tourists that expect British food to be bad, and will charge what they like (extortionately).

    A prime example of somewhere relying on what and where it is, rather than what it does. The setting of the Sky Garden is also spoiled by this familiar airport lounge look with an underlying sense that they don’t want you hanging around for too long. Having to put on sunglasses as the sun sets in your eyes is also where the novelty of dining in a glorified conservatory began to wear off.

    Darwin’s décor comprises of creams, pastels, greys (perhaps symbolising shades of clouds), and cute little succulent plants on each table. I liked the way the cocktail menu was set out, in that it would describe each one’s composition and then break it down into two/three of its dominant flavours, enabling (and potentially persuading) swift decisions.

    Their wines start at around £24 for a bottle of white. With so many lovely and popular roses around it was a little disappointing to only find one on the menu and priced at £39 (2014). Our waitress was on the ball and everything seemed okay at this point. That was until our food came- at a concerning speed consistently through courses (again feeling like another “please leave” nudge).

    To start I had the Ham Hock & Parsley Terrine (£9.50). There wasn’t much to the actual terrine, and the amount of parsley was depressing with only a few flecks. The sourdough bread served was over oily and felt more like fried bread than grilled. However, the sharp and fresh veg piccalilli that came with the dish was really lovely and packed flavour where the ham lacked. Altogether the plate needs more oomph and cannot solely rely on the pickle as its star.

    Also to start, English Aparagus (£14.50)- not entirely sure where the price for this dish was plucked from (literally from the Sky it would seem, sorryboutit). Bearing in mind asparagus is in season, and the pot of sauce that came with it is basically made from cream, egg, and lemon- all relatively minimal costing. The dish was served a little too cold and verging on undercooked.

    For my main, Cornish Lamb Rump (£26), and I’m baffled as to how the classically strong lamby flavours of the flesh had been utterly eradicated. The “aromatic” couscous was screaming with colossal amounts of cumin and the “ras el hanout jus” tasted more like just jus, which actually suited me after taste bud apocalypse via the couscous. On the plus side, the lamb was not stringy fatty.

    Roast Chicken Breast (£17.50) – A dish laden with errors for me. Its fricassee of cocoa beans, peas, broad beans & rosemary- lacked even the most subtle of cocoa notes and its gravy tasted a little akin to my “ras el hanout jus”. Cold tomatoes were laced through the dish, and came served in a bowl. Confusing as it resembled a warm salad, but we didn’t want a salad- otherwise, we would have ordered off the separate salad menu. Whatever it was- this dish was limp.

    A sad affair for the sides of Tenderstem Broccoli (with chilli & preserved lemon), and Steamed Spinach (both priced at £5 each). They both tasted rather odd and almost metallic. I did bring this up and was advised that one of the dishes was cooked in a steamer so possibly that is where the metallic-y thing is coming from. Oh.

    Choosing from a dessert menu comprising of tediously boring dishes, we went for the Chocolate Pudding with hazelnut praline, and the Champagne Strawberry Jelly with pannacotta and lime (Both @ £7.50) To detract from the dishes plain titles (all I read was ‘cake & jelly’), it would only take a bit of re-jigging to sound a little more exciting. i.e. Hazelnut Praline Pudding / Lime & Panna Cotta with Champagne Jelly. Perhaps its over simplicity again is a reach out to the tourists.

    The chocolate pudding was singed and there’s nothing worse than bitter, burnt, dry cake. The jelly dish was served in a martini glass, yes really. Jelly, fruit, pannacotta and a meringue which was literally egg froth with a blow torched top. It would have been nice to have a crumbly meringue to give texture amongst the different wet consistencies of the dish.

    Darwin also has a cheeseboard (£9) on the menu with cheese from Neal’s Yard. This was probably the best part of the meal. Climaxes came from the Brie, the blue and goats. So if you do visit the Sky Garden and find yourself dining at the Darwin, I’d recommend you have the cheeseboard.

    I must firstly say as I conclude, that the service we received from our waitress was consistently caring- she was wonderful. I can totally understand when venues and menus are designed with tourists in mind, so I never would expect five-star dining from the Darwin. But with high prices and low levelled execution you really feel like they just don’t care, reinforcing that going to the Sky Garden is probably something you would only ever do once in your life- tourist or not. Perhaps being on level 36, they have spent too much time with their head in the clouds.

    REVIEWED BY: Jordan Lohan
    ADDRESS: Darwin Brasserie- Floor 36
    Sky Garden
    20 Fenchurch Street
    London
    EC3M 3BY
    PHONE: 0333 772 0020
    PRICE: £££££ (explained)
    TIPPING POLICY: http://skygarden.london/darwin

  • FILM REVIEW | Angel With Tethered Wings

    It seems like Steven Vasquez the director/writer/cinematographer/editor wants to corner the market in low-budget gay horror mystery movies the rate he is turning them out these days.

    This new one like his last recent one (Errodity) is essentially another piece of soft-core pornography, but this time with an extended and tangled plot, and where the script is as flaccid as the penises and the only thing stiff is the acting.

    It’s billed as a ‘back-from-the-grave revenge flick’, which is in three parts and is the story about a pair of gay twins, and their brother. I think. Anyway, there is a bad twin who is a callous producer of twink porn who owes the mysterious Carmine an awful lot of money that he plans to replay when a geeky Texan coughs up big time to have sex with the main porn star. The money disappears after the Texan has had his end away, and the rest of the movie is spent chasing the money and the Twink too.

    It’s not all played out chronologically so the rather lame story is not that easy to follow, and I wouldn’t be giving too much away by saying that soon after the Twink and his brother (!) come back as vampires, most of the cast get shot one way or another. Now that the Twink is dead he very sadly misses his boyfriend although they dated for just two days. However, the fact that he is played by a real (and hot) porn star Addison Graham makes that totally understandable. He actually puts in a very convincing performance even when he is fully clothed.

    Nearly everyone at one time or another gets completely naked and there are lots of full frontals and also some very noisy un-erotic simulated sex scenes, once even played out to some church lady singing ‘Ave Maria’.

    Making ambitious low budget gay movies like this is not easy and through sheer lack of resources often the script and the acting suffers. In this instance, it was both, and maybe if Vasquez hadn’t been trying to do everything behind the camera himself he would spot that too.

    If you are a fan of gay zombie B Movies then you may want to even try this, as there are not many others in this genre. If you are a fan of Mr Graham and want to literally see more of him (!) then you may want to check out some the steamy movies he stars in for Michael Lucas’s Studio.
    On Dvd/VOD July 13th from TLA

  • Giant Photocall To Protest Nigel Farage HIV Remarks Today

    Activist group ACTUP are hosting a giant selfie-photo call to protest UKIP leader’s HIV remarks during the leaders’ debate, prior to the general election earlier in 2015.

    ACTUP are hosting a giant selfie photocall in protest against Nigel Farage’s HIV-phobic remarks towards migrants in Trafalgar Square. This peaceful photocall pays tribute to the founders of the gay liberation movement and HIV activism. HIV+ and HIV- migrants and leading figures from within the gay liberation movement and HIV activism will speak.

    ACT UP FOR LOVE, will protest today from 6pm in Trafalgar Square, organised by ACT UP London and London Artists Projects.
    Speakers will be:
    620pm Garry Brough, Bloomsbury Patients Clinic
    630pm Jose Resinente, NAZ Project
    640pm Natalie Bennett, Green Party
    650pm Andrew Keates, director of the AIDS play ‘As Is’ at Trafalgar Studios
    7pm Vincent Manning, Catholics for AIDS prevention and Support
    710pm Sophia forum, People Living With HIV
    720pm Precious Lubunda, NAZ Project

    Nigel Farage questioned whether immigrants who live with HIV in the UK should continue to receive treatment. His remarks were widely criticised by the other leaders and the public at large.

    He said: “You can come into Britain, from anywhere in the world, get diagnosed with HIV and get the retro-viral drugs which cost up to £25,000 per year, per patient.

    “We need to put the National Health Service there for British people and families.”

  • COMMENT | The Iceman Cometh…Out of the Closet

    Those of you with any connection to the geek world or the gay world, and especially those in the inner circle of the gay-geek world, will have seen that Marvel recently released one of its longest running characters from his hiding place in the closet.

    Superstar writer Brian Michael Bendis revealed in All-New X-Men that the character of Bobby Drake, the man of Ice that we all know and love, is secretly gay.

    Unintentionally outed by fellow X-Man Jean Grey, the current version of which is much younger and has less control over her telepathic abilities, when she coaxes him into finally admitting to himself and to her that he is gay.

    There was a lot of adverse reaction to Iceman’s coming out throughout the geek world; not so much opposing gay characters but opposing changing existing characters to make them gay.

    The insinuation that Iceman would wear spandex even when he wasn’t fighting crime seemed more like sacrilege to a character that many of us geeks have been reading about for years.

    Not the First Gay on the Page
    This is not the first time that a major comic book publisher has changed a well-established character to make them gay. The original Green Lantern Alan Scott was reintroduced as gay in DC Comics’ “Earth Two” series. And even though we applaud DC for not hesitating to recreate this 1940s classic character as a ring-bearing mo, it was an alternate universe version of the original in a rebooted DC universe, which allowed the writers to take a lot of liberties in changing the characters. (I mean the Gay Green Lantern ended up not even

    However the fact that Iceman, a character who has been around since the X-Men were first published back in 1963, has come out as gay adds new depth to these characters.

    In an ideal world we all would be honest with our friends and family, and ourselves, from day one about our homosexuality. It wouldn’t be an issue we struggle with or anything that we would be ashamed of. In the real world that is rarely the case, and Iceman’s struggle and flat-out denial of his latent homosexuality represents a very honest real-life struggle that we all will have dealt with at some point in our lives.

    Add to this Iceman’s background as an underachiever, a class clown that has a tendency to goof off rather than admit to the scope of his full potential, and you have a character that a lot more of us can relate to.

    More Minorities
    The inclusion of more minorities within the comic book world is incredibly important, not just to have gay characters, but also characters of other ethnicities and the occasional female super hero.

    The ever-growing success of the Marvel Studios movies has made it awkwardly obvious just how aryan the creators of these comics were. Fair enough most of these characters were created in the 50s and 60s, when women, black people and gay people weren’t just considered minorities, they were thought of as being inferior, barbaric and a crime against humanity. And while some may still feel like that today, it is thankfully no longer acceptable to say so.

    In fact this is an aspect that the writer addresses when Iceman comes out. (Quick catch up: these younger X-Men have been brought into the present time period from the past and so there are duplicate older versions of them that they have encountered… simple right?)

    When the young Iceman wonders why his future/current self isn’t gay, young Jean Grey suggests that being gay back in their original time would be difficult, or even impossible, and that being in the current time period Iceman will find people much more accepting and understanding. Iceman even considers being Bi for a moment or two before conceding to being a full-blown gay.
    having a lantern because of these changes. So he’s basically just an old gay who wears a green cape. There are plenty of people like that you can meet in real life).

    Why Iceman Needs to be Gay
    Every gay geek out there will know of and probably love Northstar, Batwoman and Wiccan as representatives of LGBT characters in comics.

    However the fact that Iceman, a character who has been around since the X-Men were first published back in 1963, has come out as gay adds new depth to these characters.

    In an ideal world we all would be honest with our friends and family, and ourselves, from day one about our homosexuality. It wouldn’t be an issue we struggle with or anything that we would be ashamed of. In the real world that is rarely the case, and Iceman’s struggle and flat-out denial of his latent homosexuality represents a very honest real-life struggle that we all will have dealt with at some point in our lives.

    Add to this Iceman’s background as an underachiever, a class clown that has a tendency to goof off rather than admit to the scope of his full potential, and you have a character that a lot more of us can relate to.
    More Minorities
    The inclusion of more minorities within the comic book world is incredibly important, not just to have gay characters, but also characters of other ethnicities and the occasional female super hero.

    The ever-growing success of the Marvel Studios movies has made it awkwardly obvious just how aryan the creators of these comics were. Fair enough most of these characters were created in the 50s and 60s, when women, black people and gay people weren’t just considered minorities, they were thought of as being inferior, barbaric and a crime against humanity. And while some may still feel like that today, it is thankfully no longer acceptable to say so.

    In fact this is an aspect that the writer addresses when Iceman comes out. (Quick catch up: these younger X-Men have been brought into the present time period from the past and so there are duplicate older versions of them that they have encountered… simple right?)

    When the young Iceman wonders why his future/current self isn’t gay, young Jean Grey suggests that being gay back in their original time would be difficult, or even impossible, and that being in the current time period Iceman will find people much more accepting and understanding. Iceman even considers being Bi for a moment or two before conceding to being a full-blown gay.

    All of this is a huge part of the struggle young gay men make when discovering their homosexuality. How many of us look back to when we were younger, in school or in any environment in which it would have been all-but impossible to come out as gay. Times have changed (for the most part) and the freedom to be openly gay is growing so much that even 50 year old comic book characters are comfortable coming out of the closet.

    Iceman’s movie counterpart Shawn Ashmore has even publicly commended Bobby’s decision to come out of the closet, tweeting his congrats to Bobby and not shying away from the changes in his on-screen persona.

    With fellow gay Bryan Singer still in charge of the X-Men movies franchise, we may even get to see a different side to Ashmore if he makes any further appearances as Iceman in future X-films.

    A Step in the Right Direction
    Comic books and sci fi books are an escape for those of us not quite coping with the real world; this is why it holds such appeal to so many gay people. Whether it’s our homosexuality or our social awkwardness that makes us an outcast, having these characters and stories gives us a way to escape the difficulties of reality during childhood that often follows us well into our thirties.

    Programming their readers from a young age to see American white heterosexual men as the champions and everyone else as either victims or villains is a sure-fire way to screw us up. Having lived life as a chubby, gay, geek, I for one would have loved to have seen more gay characters (or even any gay characters) in comics when I was growing up. It would have shown me that the answer wasn’t always found by a straight guy; that being straight isn’t the only way to be strong and be a hero; that being gay could be a part of your character and not something you read comic books to escape from.

    Things will be difficult for Iceman as he comes to term with being gay while at the same time fighting to save the world from evil mutants, but the real battle will be in the heart of the older Iceman. Knowing that his younger self has fully admitted that he is gay he will have to either admit how he’s secretly felt all these years, or bury his head even further into denial. A choice that plenty of closeted men have to face in the real world every day.

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • BAR REVIEW | W Hotel Bar Leicester Square Review

    ★★ | W Hotel Bar Leicester Square Review

    Waspish Welcome, What’s Wong With W?

    Before jumping Prada antiqued-calf-leather laced-derby shoes first into your eatery of choice on a Saturday night, it’s best to lift spirits with a couple of pre-supper sharpeners. Central London is chokka with slinky cocktail bars, trendy boozers and popular pop-ups. THEGAYUK’s finely-tuned ear caught wind of the W Hotel Lounge Leicester Square donkey’s ago. It was time to see what all the flap was about.

    We arrived at the entrance 8.25pm Saturday 16th May and were acknowledged by two towering, dapper burly bouncers. One-half of the brothers-grim asked if we were staying at the hotel, or there for drinks, without so much as a glimpse at his gnashers. We informed moody-chops we were planning to have a drink. We were then ordered to stand behind a roped-off area and queue. We were the only people there.

    Eventually, a guy that had to be RuPaul’s not-so-friendly brother minced towards us. His foul mood could only be explained by the fact that his dry cleaner must have shrunk the jacket he was squeezed into.

    The hotel’s door staff have mastered the art of not revealing their ivories. They’re wasted working in a hotel – they should step in where Keith Harris left off, god rest his soul.

    He scanned us with his mince-pies as if we were tinned pilchards at a Waitrose checkout, then directed us to the lifts. Entering the W hotel was about as pleasurable as spending an afternoon in Clacton.

    The lounge’s décor looks like it’s been pulled from the 70s but with a modern edge. A porn-star, low-black-leather-style sofa in a horseshoe shape swamps the main section of the room. Two large glass pillars with dancing flames, and a Tron-style, yellow-lit sunken ceiling gives the feel you’re in a Bond villain’s den.

    Hurrah, not all the employees were fit for stuffing their hand up a puppet’s arse. Our waiter beamed at us from ear to ear before taking our order.

    W’s cocktail menu has its own take on some classics, and a few signatures.

    We started with a Secret Garden and a Godfather / W Twist.

    The Secret Garden: Tanqueray, Crème de Fraise & honey syrup, fresh strawberries, lemon juice and cucumber topped with champagne. Reminiscent of a not so heavy, more sophisticated strawberry daiquiri. Pleasant.

    The Godfather / W Twist: Johnnie Walker Black Label stirred with Amaretto and Creme de Cerise, finished with fresh cherry, sprayed with Laphroaig. Over complicated. It was as though the bartender had exhaled his cigar into the glass while enthusiastically pouring in the Creme de Cerise.

    W’s website is welcoming, unlike the door staff, and encourages you to join their glamorous crowd for divine -people-watching in their lounge.

    The other punters clearly flew in from Marbella that morning or had travelled on a South West train. Manmade fibres and Burton whistle-and-flutes were much in evidence.

    Ru and another member of staff, sporting a cowboy hat and denim jacket, paraded around the lounge looking as busy as Matt Lucas’s hairdresser.

    Our second round: a Cool Britannia and W’s take on an Old Fashioned: W Fashioned.

    The Britannia: Tanqueray, cucumber, lemongrass and grapes, Pomme Vert apple liqueur, topped up with Viognier. Packing an intense apple punch to the nose and tastebuds with a cheeky zesty tickle from the lemongrass, with lush aromatic notes produced from the Viognier. Winner.

    W Fashioned: Zacapa 23yr Antica Formula infused with pomegranate, cherry sugar and a slash of chocolate bitters. This is a prime example of: if it’s not broken… It was like sucking on a boiled-cherry sweet soaked in whisky.

    The bill came to £57.60 including service charge.

    Our visit was much like Taylor Swift’s performance at this year Brits. But at least we’ve found a new home for Orville.

    REVIEWED BY: Thabian Sutherland
    ADDRESS: W London Leicester Square, 10 Wardour Street, London W1D 6QF
    WEBSITE: http://www.wlondon.co.uk
    Phone: 020 7758 1000
    STAR RATING: ★★ (explained)
    PRICE: ££££ (explained)
    TIPPING POLICY: Service charge

  • FILM REVIEW | Tiger Orange

    Wade Gasque’s debut feature, which he co-wrote with lead actor Mark Strano, is an interesting drama about the conflict between two estranged gay brothers who are trying to reconcile after the death of their father. ★★★

    Their sexuality is one of the few things the siblings have in common as Chet is quiet and reserved and has never left their small hometown or ‘come out of the closet’. His younger brother Todd, on the other hand, escaped to LA when he just 18-years-old to try his hand out as an actor, and he is out, proud and very loud.

    Chet is a workaholic and when he is not running the family hardware store in town, he leads a solitary life just eating dinner in front of the TV every night. Todd never bothered to return to town for his father’s funeral but now breezes back when he ends up both jobless and homeless with no other options or prospects in sight. If his rebellious streak is not enough to upset Chet’s calm equilibrium, then at the same time Brandon one of his schoolboy crushes also turns up and between the two of them, force Chet to deal with his reality.

    This very simple indie melodrama that is presently playing the Film Festival circuit is attracting attention simply because of the curiosity value with it starring porn performer Johnny Hazzard going legit. Under his real name Frankie Valenti, he plays Todd and puts in a much more credible performance than one may have suspected, and he proves to be a strong focal point of the drama.  He is very charismatic and easily shows that he doesn’t have to be naked to grab our attention.

    It’s a well-produced and well-crafted movie that thanks to some good acting, and a pleasing visually look, really belies its low budget. Well worth a look when it is released on DVD/VOD later this year.

  • Tylenol hire out gay Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black to shoot TV Ad

    Many forward thinking major corporations are getting far more inclusive in their advertising these days, and US drug company Johnson & Johnson went one further by hiring out gay Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black to shoot their latest campaign for Tylenol.

    It features a same-sex prom couple and two gay dads and has a voiceover that declares, “Family isn’t defined by who you love, but how.” Manoj Raghunandanan, Senior Director of Marketing for Johnson and Johnson’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare, told Advertising Age that the ad was representative of his company’s commitment to celebrating how “families look and feel different [now] than they did before.”

    Here’s a sneak preview of it before it is launched on American TV later this month.

  • FILM REVIEW | The Invisible Men

    ★★★★★ | The Invisible Men

    Louie is a 32-year-old Palestinian who tries to live his life unobtrusively hidden away from society’s prying eyes. He has no legal right to live in Israel, and thus without papers he must continually avoid any confrontation with the police or officialdom, as if he returns back across the border he risks the very real death threats from his own family and all simply because he’s gay.

    This remarkable award-winning documentary from Israeli filmmaker Yariv Mozer tracks Louie as he goes about his daily life in Tel Aviv. A somewhat shy, introverted and extremely likeable young man, Louie survives by doing odd jobs of work and constantly moving apartments as he tries to keep one step ahead of the authorities all the time. On the several times he is caught, the police deport him back to Ramallah, but yet somehow this quiet resourceful man soon manages to very soon sneak back into Israel once again. It’s a harrowing existence and when he relates the lurid details to Mozer of how his family tied him up and tried to slaughter him like an animal, you know that he has no other choice if he wants to live.

    After what seems like just one to many deportations, Louie contacts a refugee law centre at the university and discovers that there is a possible way out from this predicament. Under international law he can apply for asylum in another country (that will be chosen for him) and resettle there. There are no guarantees he will be awarded this and he is warned that his chances of succeeding are slim. A skeptical Louie is put in touch with Abdu another gay Palestinian who has already been accepted and is about to leave for his yet unknown new country/home. Abdu, an outgoing extrovert, is totally opposite to Louie and he shows his new timid friend a whole underground gay movement that Louis finds hard to believe.

    Months later when Louie gets word that he has won a much coveted asylum place, he starts having very serious second thoughts. Israel has been his home for the past 10 years, and although it has been a scary and dangerous existence, he feels a great draw as this is where he believes he truly belongs, despite all the pain and heartache that he has been through, he really wants to stay.

    Mozer tells Louie’s emotional charged story without disguising his own attachment, but he does sensibly refrain from making any comment at all on the tense political situation that engulfs this whole region. It’s a humanitarian tale that will shock most of us living in the West to realise (or be reminded) that being gay in any Arab country puts your very life at risk, and being Palestinian in a country where you are illegal, which in Louie’s case was his birthplace, seems so very unjust.

    An extremely moving heartbreaking story that is sensitively documented, and that will rightly jerk you out of your comfort zone… it’s very definitely unmissable.

    P.S. Louie is safely living somewhere in Europe coping with the snow, but as Yariv Mozer has told us he’s ‘the only gay in the village’. However he’s alive and well and even getting some assistance to help him heal his emotional scars. He is one of the lucky ones.

  • FILM REVIEW | Triple Crossed

    ★★ | Triple Crossed

    After he had finished his posting serving in the military in war-torn Afghanistan during which time he witnessed his best friend being killed, Chris Jensen is struggling to adapt back into civilian life. Unable to find a job, as no one seems prepared to want the services of a somewhat damaged ex-serviceman, he has resorted to living in his car.

    Out of the blue, he gets a call from Jackie who wants to offer a job that he would like to turn down. Her recently deceased half-brother has left his controlling share of the family’s multi-million business to his boyfriend Andrew, and she is having none of it. She wants to get his share but doesn’t want to pay a cent for it, but she is however prepared to pay Chris a handsome sum to kill Andrew so she can get her own way.

    He is desperate enough to take on the assignment but first he goes to check out his ‘target’ who naturally turns out to be as hot as hell. The two men are soon grappling with each but not quite in the way Jackie had wanted as they are naked and in bed. The question then is to kill or not? Not an easy one to answer as the title of this drama implies everyone has their own agenda, and so we are never sure how this will play out.

    What makes this small-budget indie stand out from others of this genre is that it marks the debut of Sean Paul Lockhart; aka ex-porn star Brent Corrigan behind the camera as well as in front for a change. Although it is full of the good intentions the movie does sadly fail to be a thriller in or out of the bedroom even though it does have a gun-toting finale.

    Sean doesn’t ever quite manage to convince us that he really did go to war, although he does put in a pretty good performance as a potential new boyfriend for Andrew who seems to have soon forgotten his ex dead one. If you are a fan of Sean aka Brent then you’ll want to see this,but if you are not, then you may just want to wait for a rainy afternoon when you have nothing better to do.

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